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The Cure 4 Divorce By Michael Sayen Introduction
An article by: The Psychology Wiki Divorce Religious/cultural attitudes to divorce “Within Christianity, divorce has become almost commonplace, and the interpretation of the Holy Scripture on divorce widely varies among Christian denominations. However, the first 400 years of the Early Church, the church maintained a rather unanimous voice on divorce.” Footnote (1)
Some of the Early Church Father’s Testimonies… “ANF05. Fathers of the Third Century: Hippolytus, Cyprian, Caius, Novatian, Appendix by Schaff, Philip 90. That a wife must not depart from her husband; or if she should depart, she must remain unmarried.”
And some more from the book “Encyclopedia of Early Church Fathers” “When being inquired of, Christ gave this judgment: He said that a wife must not be put away, except for the cause of adultery....Laws are prescribed to married women, who are so bound that they cannot thence be separated.” Novatian (c.235,W),5.589, formerly attributed to Cyprian.
“A wife must not depart from her husband. Or, if she should depart, she must remain unmarried.” Cyprian (c.250,W),5.553
“He who marries a woman divorced from her husband is an adulterer. So is he who divorced a wife for any cause other than adultery, in order to marry another.” Lactantius (c. 304-313,W), 7.190, translated from the Latin.
“But now, contrary to what was written, even some of the rulers of the church have permitted a woman to marry—even when her husband was living, doing contrary to what was written. For it is said, ‘A wife is bound so long as her husband lives.’” Origen (c.245,E), 9.510.
“Encyclopedia of Early Church Fathers” Footnote (2) The Cure 4 Divorce
Living as One Flesh In the beginning, man and woman became one flesh entering a covenant by oath to one another cleaving both in body having a vestige of spirit . Jesus started off by speaking about divorce saying “He who made them at the beginning made them male and female” Matt 19:4 then latter, “but from the beginning (divorce) was not so” Matt 19:8. Jesus focus in speaking about divorce was the intent of marriage “in the beginning” Gen 1:1-26.
The design of man and woman from “in the beginning” showed man was made in the “image and glory” of God and the woman was made in the “glory” of man 1Cor 11:7b. Paul to explain submission of the woman in Church said “Adam was formed first then Eve” 1 Tim 2:13. Paul explained the order that gave Adam leadership. Since the woman was made as a “help-meet” Gen 2:18, the man paid the “bridal price” Ex 22:16-17, for the authority of the father to be passed on to her new husband Num 30:5-6.
God’s punishment for original sin was for his creations, Adam and Eve, to experience pain. Today, a woman still experiences pain during childbirth—and a man still works in the heat of the day by the sweat of his brow. Even in the 21st Century, the woman, through the guidance of the bible, should remain under the rule of her husband; where the man has authority over his wife and allowed to over-rule her. This may sound very anti-feminist or worse (gasp!) not politically correct.
Paul when making a strong judgment used the Law of Gen 3:16 to enforce his judgment for the woman to be silent in the church by being subject “as the Law also says” 1 Cor 14:34 and to have the woman ask their “husbands” at home vs. 35. The “Law” Paul was speaking about in 1 Cor 14:34 did not mention who said it or from what context. The Corinthians so knew what “Law” Paul was talking about that he felt it was unnecessary to repeat it. And that could only be the story of Adam and Eve, and the great fall (as a child would know and understand). By Paul speaking in boldness and directness we can tell this was a known subject.
When Paul said “Law” he was not only referring to the ‘Law of Moses’ but any writings of the entire Old Testament. As 1 Cor 14:21 says “In the Law it has been written” (“Law” speaking about a scripture in the book of Isaiah ). The Old Testament was also known as; “Scriptures”, “the Law and the Prophets”, or “the Law of the Lord.”
Gen 1:18 uses the same Hebrew word “rule over” as Gen 3:16 in which it says, “God set them in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth, and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness.” The word “rule over” is used to have dominion over.
The punishment of woman of Gen 3:16 affected her in every area of life: shame in the political office “As for My people, children are their oppressors, And women rule over them. O My people! Those who lead you cause you to err, And destroy the way of your paths" Isaiah 3:12, shame in the Church to speak “women” to keep “silent” 1 Cor 14:34, 1 Tim 2:11-12 and “For this reason the woman ought to have a symbol of authority on her head, because of the angels” 1 Cor 11:10, and required of in the marriage “the husband is head of the wife, as also Christ is head of the church” Eph 5:23.
Gen 2:18 was the ‘design’ of God for the woman, Gen 3:16 was her ‘punishment’, and Deut 24:1, Num 30:13, Rom 7:2, Eph 5:23, 1 Cor 7:39, 1 Cor 14:34, and 1 Tim 2:11-14 were some of the ‘judgments’ concerning that Law.
Solomon said jealousy is as cruel as the grave (Songs of Sol.).
Divorce was first introduced to the Jews in Moses giving of the Law.
“When a man takes a wife and marries her, and it happens that she finds no favor in his eyes because he has found some uncleanness in her, and he writes her a certificate of divorce, puts it in her hand, and sends her out of his house, when she has departed from his house, and goes and becomes another man’s wife, if the latter husband detests her and writes her a certificate of divorce, puts it in her hand, and sends her out of his house, or if the latter husband dies who took her to be his wife, then her former husband who divorced her must not take her back to be his wife after she has been “defiled;” for that is an abomination before the Lord, and you shall not bring sin on the land which the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance.” Deut 24:1-4 NKJ version
This was Moses giving instruction to the men of Israel about divorce and remarriage of the woman he divorced (Deut 24:2-4). The Jews asked Jesus about this Law “testing Him” Matt 19:3. Not in how much Jesus knew, or to give them further clarity, but to answer a question they considered ‘unanswerable’ and to trap Him.
Jesus says to the multitude of believers in Matt chapter 5, “Furthermore it has been said, ‘Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.’ But I say to you that whoever divorces his wife for any reason except sexual immorality causes her to commit adultery; and whoever marries a woman who is divorced commits adultery.” Jesus explains the word “uncleanness” in Deut 24:1 was “sexual immorality”. For the Jews understood that if a person committed adultery they were to be stoned to death(John 8:1-16) Lev 20:10, so “uncleanness” had to mean something besides adultery. “Sexual immorality” could be any sexual indecent act that would “defile” the individual’s body.
If a man divorced a woman without the knowledge of sexual immorality, and she did not marry another already, he is to return to her Matt 5:31. When it says he “causes” the woman to commit adultery, this does not mean she is ‘allowed’ to marry another, it simply means, he being in charge is responsible for putting her in a position of temptation (because of the “desire shall be for your husband” Gen 3:16a and an empty womb cries out Prov 30:16, and the woman growing “wonton against Christ, they desire to marry” 1 Tim 5:11). She will be required for her own actions.
The Nations before them that occupied the Land known as Israel, was filled with “abominations” that caused them to be judged Deut 7:1-2. Like abominable marriages Lev 18:1-24 and gross sexual sins of marriage Lev 20:23 which the Lord God “cast out” before Moses leading the people to the promise Land.
For Moses to explain to the men in Israel about remarrying a former wife who was divorced by another husband, he used a narrative to explain that even if she was released (either by divorce or death of the second husband) it would be an abomination for him to take her back. But Deut 24:4 explained that his former wife was now “defiled”. But defiled does not mean she was only defiled to him, alone.
A woman becomes “defiled” by polluting her body by another man’s “seed” becoming improperly “one flesh” with another quoted inside or outside a marriage .
“After that…” “That” in Deut 24:4 could also be translated “who” or “which” was (she been) “defiled”. One of the reasons Moses was saying this was in order for the reader of the Law not focus on the second marriage or divorce (not to produce doctrines from) but keeping the focus on Moses giving instruction to the original husband. By this we can see that the phrase “after she was defiled” to be a thing of ‘sexual immorality’ on the woman’s part. It is possible, because of the seemingly obscurity of Deut 24:4, and not stating in Deut 24:2 was “sin” for her to marry the second husband, that the Jews allowed their women to remarry. But Jesus said in Matt 5:32, that anyone who marries the woman who was “put away” commits adultery Matt 19:9b; and Paul said a woman becomes bound to the “law of the husband” upon marriage Rom 7:2.
When relating about the story of Deut 24:1-4, Jer 3:1 says, “If a man divorces his wife, and she goes from him and becomes another man’s may he return to her again? Would not that land be greatly polluted?” Deut 24:4 said if a man marries his former wife who was “defiled” by marrying a second husband it would be an “abomination” in the Land of Israel. God goes on and says, “But you have played the harlot with many lovers ‘Yet return to Me,’ says the Lord.” Explaining the gross sexual sin of the woman defiling her body with other men, but the Lord will still take her back.
God will remarry his wife in the last days when Israel returns to the Lord Rom chap 9-11 and it will not be an “abomination” but forgiveness (Jer 3:12-14). To illustrate the great sin of Israel (Isaiah 50:1) God used the comparative story of Hosea and Gomer (Hos. 3:3 even returning back to his defiled wife).
Now although God was said to be married to two wives, the men, according to the Law of Moses, were permitted to exercise polygamy, though it was not designed that way (no longer “two” but “one flesh”). God is used as an example of having two wives at the same time in Jer 3:8; as Jacob with Rachel and Sister Leah, Jacob and wives, and taking on a slave as an additional wife for your son. It also is said seven women will in the last days ask to marry one man for their (name) reproach to be taken away. God would never use Himself as an example of an adulterous affair but still to marry His “promised” wife, the ‘loved one,’ he married the other (still not clear on this example).
Although, polygamy may have been allowed for the man in the Law of Moses, it was not to be for the overseer, or elder/deacon, (“one wife husband” the “husband of one wife” required to have a high moral character for office).
The Law does say in Lev. 18:18 that you shall not marry a “sister” as a rival as the other “is alive”. Jacob marrying Rachel and Leah (while alive) was symbolic of God being married to both the sisters of Judah and Israel though He was promised the “loved one”. Judah and Israel, the two Nations that came out of one, because of the deceitfulness of sin (Laban).
Divorce was getting out of hand and God addressed this with the Nation of Israel and said He no longer will “regard the offering anymore nor receive it with good will from your hands” Mal. 2:13 from the “priests” 2:1 because they have dealt treacherously with their “companion” the “wife by covenant” vs. 14. And latter said “He hates divorce for it covers one’s garment with violence” Mal 2:16. We can see this with the Pharisees as they asked if it was lawful for a man to divorce his wife for just “any reason” Matt 19:3.
Jesus did not deny the Law of Moses but said, “But I say to you, whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another commits adultery: And whoever marries her who is divorced commits adultery” Matt 19:9. Stating it was not un- “lawful” for a man to put away his wife for sexual immorality but if he did without the knowledge of sexual immorality he not only “caused” Matt 5:32 her to commit adultery, by causing her to marry another, but if he married another woman was guilty of adultery as well Matt 19:9b.
Mark when writing about this account of divorce wrote to the Gentiles living in Rome, “And in the house His disciples asked Him again about the same matter. So He said to them, ‘Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her. And if a woman divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery” Mark 10:10-12. Mark 10:10-12 was writing to the Gentiles in what Jesus said in “private” and not to the Jewish people, or Pharisees, at large.
Mark mentions in 10:12 that the women were putting away their husbands. Woman divorces were probably prevalent in that culture for we see the ease of Gentile woman divorcing their husband’s in 1 Cor 7:10-15 without proof of “sexual immorality” needed and the Jew’s knowing Harod married his brother’s wife which the Law of Moses would not allow. Luke 16:18 was the same recorded message of Matt 19:1-12 and Mark 10:1-12.
Paul wrote a letter to the Jews and Gentiles in Rome and said to the Jews, “Indeed you are called a Jew and rest on the law, and make your boast in God…you who make your boast in the law, do you dishonor God through breaking the law” Rom 2:17-24. When speaking to them in freedom from the Law of Moses compared it to adultery as a woman bound to the law of her husband, marrying another man Rom 7:3.
1 Or do you not know, brethren (for I speak to those who know the law), that the law has dominion over a man as long as he lives? 2For the woman who has a husband is bound by the law to her husband as long as he lives. But if the husband dies, she is released from the law of her husband. 3So then if, while her husband lives, she marries another man, she will be called an adulteress; but if her husband dies, she is free from that law, so that she is no adulteress, though she has married another man. 4Therefore, my brethren, you also have become dead to the law through the body of Christ, that you may be married to another--to Him who was raised from the dead, that we should bear fruit to God. 5For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions which were aroused by the law were at work in our members to bear fruit to death. 6But now we have been delivered from the law, having died to what we were held by, so that we should serve in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter.
Rom 7:1-6 was speaking about the Jews both holding onto the Law of Moses and trying to embrace Christ. They were committing spiritual “adultery”. Paul uses a physical truth “For…” Rom 7:2, to bring a conclusion “So then…” Rom 7:3, to explain the spiritual truth “So…” Rom 7:4.
Paul said in 1 Cor 7:39, approximately one year before the book of Romans, when a woman marries a man she becomes “bound of law, as long as her husband lives; but if her husband is dead, she is free to be married to whom she wishes, only in the Lord.” Paul was not speaking about polygamy as in Rom 7:1-6 but still Paul said a woman was “bound to the law of the husband”. What does this mean? Paul is not saying we are still bound to the Law of Moses.
Paul says the reason the woman is bound to the “law of the husband” is because she is “under-man” (Greek word of Rom 7:2).
“law” Paul also states other non-specific “laws” that binds something to another i.e. “another law”, “law of the sin”, “law of the God”, “I find a law that is evil is present with me”, “law of the mind”, “law of the Spirit”, “law of the sin and of the death (as Rom 5:21)”. And so was used the “law of the husband”. This also seems to be shown in the statement by Paul earlier saying the Jews are not saved by the Law of works but through the “law (of) faith”. Paul used the word “law” was to symbolize, sometimes, something other than the Law of Moses. We might say the “law of Nature”, “law of Gravity”, “law of Physics” or some other “law” to be of a known truth or order. And Paul used it as a known fact according to God’s word. The “law” of the husband, was a play-on-words, which Paul used to show when you are “under” a “law” (as of The Law of Moses) the law “lords-over” you, in which you “were held by”. Also Paul said “Law of God” and “Law of Christ” in 1 Cor 9:21 even though he was not speaking about the Law of Moses.
It is possible since Paul says “man” twice in Rom 7:2 this showed the woman is currently married to that man (thus “having been bound”).
Under-man, woman Rom 7:2 this sentence says in Greek, “The for (for the) under-man (under the position of man) woman to the living man, having been (has been) bound (of) law.”
This sentence could better be translated: “For the woman under authority of man (or under her husband) has been bound of law to the living husband.”
The proper word used in this passage would be better translated “bound of law” and not “bound by law”. The principle of under-man is also shown in “(the Greek word under +) submission (appointed, set)” Eph 5:23-25 and Col 3:18 using the premise of the “head” of the man. The woman was designed “for” man, and “from” man, showing this was the ‘design’ of God.
“Under man” could also be translated “underneath man”. This was to express her general or specific position to the man in obedience unto (to establish the “lords over” rule in Rom 7:1b). This was taken from Paul’s concept when he said sin “lords over” a man while “under law”. As “under law” and “under grace” is being used in Rom chap 6, so was “under-man” being used to fall in line with these two examples.
The “under” word in Greek is also used in the first part of the word “under-officers” or “ministers” to show submission to another. The ‘under’ was to establish order, position, or rank in these usages. Under was nothing more than to say under something else.
In a divorce, though the woman is no longer submissive to the husband Num 30:9 and he no longer has a “rule over” her Gen 3:16. She being “under man” becomes bound to the “law of the husband” when married, though the marriage covenant is “obsolete” after a divorce Heb 8:13a. Why is the woman bound? I am not sure, other than since she was put “under” her husband when married and now becomes bound for life to that man. That is why Moses made it clear in Deut 24:4 that if she married another man, while her first husband was still living, she became “defiled”.
Though a man was allowed to divorce his wife for ‘sexual immorality’ according to the Law of Moses, if a man brought a bad name on a young “virgin” saying she was defiled when he married her, or humbling a woman by seizing her and marrying her, these men were not allowed to “divorce her all his days” Deut 22:19, 29. These men, also, become bound for the life of the woman.
“As long as he lives” Rom 7:2 and 1 Cor 7:39 says she is still bound of law to him “as long as he lives”. “As long as lives” was a very strong statement and a blanket statement to be an all inclusive - no matter what as long as he lives he will do such and such (with no exceptions). As said when Hannah “lent” her son Samuel to the Lord “as long as he lives” .
Paul addresses questions, 1 Cor 7:1, the Church had about; marriage, divorce, and remarriage in verses 1-40. The Church questioned everyone getting married… the widow, the virgin “not sin” (but vs. 36 “let them marry”), the divorced man “not sin”, everyone! Paul speaks lastly about the remarriage of a woman in 1 Cor 7:39 a woman has been bound of law “on as long as lives” the husband. Paul did not mention the “loosed” women as he did the men.
Command/Charge of the Lord 1 Cor 7:10-11 all is wrapped up in this “command” by our “Lord” Jesus towards all Christians, “a woman is not to separate from her husband, if separated let her remain unmarried or reconcile with her husband.” And to the men, “a man is not to leave (some translations have dismiss) his wife”. The Greek word “separate” was a general word in Greek meaning an ‘all inclusive way’ or the final outcome of a spouse divorcing another Matt 19:6. This gives further credence in the woman not given “permission” to divorce her husband according to the Law of Moses, for it says the woman is not to “separate” but it says the man is not to “leave”.
For the man to “leave” 1 Cor 7:11b his wife, the Greek word has a since of dismiss or “remit” associated with it as used in Mark 2:7, 10 and again in 1 Cor 7:12-13. For there were some Christians who thought they were suppose to put away their unbelieving spouses according to the Law in Ezra 10:3 (to correct their actions of marriage to the 7 abominable nations forbidden by God in the Law, Nehemiah 13:23-31 which believers now thought they were to separate now from all non-believers Is. 52:11 and 2 Cor 6:17 and not “touch” what is “unclean”).
So, with this understanding of the Christians who thought they ‘should’ put away their spouses because they were “unclean” being unbelievers, we can see the use of the same Greek word in 1 Cor 7:11b to show the man is not to leave “his wife” if he thought for a biblical permission or any reason, even that of “sexual immorality”.
According to 1 Cor 7:14 Paul was using their reasoning of them divorcing their spouses of 1 Cor 7:12-13 of Ezra to show their “children” would have also be “unclean” Ezra 10:3 and they would have needed to divorce their children, as well. But the Holy Spirit “sanctified” the spouses, making their children “holy”.
Paul had to tell them not to “leave” the “unbelievers” they were married to 1 Cor 7:12-14 as long as they were willing. But there were those of the ‘opposite’ side of the coin who were holding on to the unbelievers to try and “save” them 1 Cor 7:16.
1 Cor 7:15 “Not in bondage” The only ‘exception clause’ for a Christian to divorce is said latter by Paul to the “rest” in 1 Cor 7:15 giving Christians permission to separate in “this case”, “If but the unbeliever separates, let be separated.” As long as the unbelievers were not willing to remain in the marriage, compared to the spouses where were in vs. 12-13. They have “not have-been-in-bondage” (Greek word meaning slavery or a continued state of bondage) for the responsibility to remain married in order to “save” them 1 Cor 7:16, but to let them go for ‘peace’ sake (all believers to live in peace whenever possible-“us”). Paul does not give permission of remarriage in this passage but only divorce. Paul latter speaks about permission for remarriage for the “man” in 1 Cor 7:27-28, and for the “woman” in verse 39.
1 Cor 7:39 If the woman’s husband sleeps she is allowed to marry “in the Lord.” She is not required, as a Jewish woman under the Law of Moses, to marry a “brother” (redeemer) to rise up a seed of the dead husband (to carry on his name and heritage). The Jews taught the believing Gentiles in the Church to keep the “laws of Moses” Acts 15:5. The Jews reading 1 Cor 7:39 would have understood, as Rom 7:1 “for knowing Law I speak”, that the concept of the “law of the husband” spoken here would have bounded her to the life of this man. And a divorce would not have freed her to marry another.
Further it was said, “Do not let a widow under sixty years old be taken into the number, and not unless she has been the wife of one man” 1 Tim 5:9. The “has been” in Greek shows once in her lifetime, or as long as a husband of her was still living. Jesus, to point out the woman at the well sins said two things. First that she has been married five times and secondly that the man she is now living with is not her husband. The woman being married five times was shown to be a sexually immoral thing or life style. Though Jesus did not say she divorced the men or that she committed sexual immorality in the marriage, but pointed out the shame of her not being married to just one man.
A priest was told in Lev 19-20 not to marry a “harlot, polluted, divorced, or widow” but only a virgin, but latter on he is said in Ezek. 44:22 he is allowed to marry either a virgin “or a widow of a Priest”. Showing it was improper to marry a divorced woman (under the purity or morality guidelines given to the Priests) but was ok to marry a widow (though she was previously “one flesh” with another man, considered sexually pure). Even God made the widow to be able to be married again, providing her a “redeemer” (Book of Ruth).
Only a “widow, orphan, or fatherless” was said to receive protection from God Ps 94:6, 146:9, to glean in the fields, or to share in the first fruits of the Levite Priests Deut 14:28-29, 24:19, 26:12. Nothing was said about a divorced woman, other than she returned to her father’s house as in her youth (Lev 21:13). The Priest was shown though the Law not to marry a “divorced” woman (Priests not to marry a divorced, unclean, or defiled woman).
We only presume a divorce contract was intended to give the woman permission to marry another man. But we do know, by scripture, it was a statement against the woman because of her sins and transgressions Isaiah 50:1 showing the man is ‘no longer her husband and she is no longer his wife’ Hos 2:2. Heb 8:9, 10 and Jer 31:31-32 shows the woman broke the “covenant” of her God and thus she was “put away”. God divorced Israel and put away Judah saying “I disregarded them.” God made the first covenant obsolete and was “vanishing away” in order to establish the second Heb 8:12-13.
We are commanded as Gentiles to abstain from “sexual immorality” Acts 15:29 and that would include “adultery” in remarriage.
Jesus did not give “permission” for a man to divorce his wife for sexual immorality only the Law of Moses Matt 19:9. Jesus only addressed adultery in remarriage, and causing the innocent spouse to commit adultery in remarriage Matt 5:32. Moses allowed them divorce because he realized their “carnal mind” is not subject to the Law of God, nor indeed could it be Rom 8:7. When the Law came, sin abounded. Paul said, “For I would not have known covetousness unless the law had said, "You shall not covet”.
New Heart Jesus said, “Moses, because of the hardness of your hearts, permitted you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so” Matt 19:8. But we have been given a “new heart” Eze 36:26 and no longer live in the hardheartedness of sin for the reason to “put away” our wives, but to obey Christ in all righteousness.
“Be Holy” We are commanded to be Holy as God is Holy. Jer 3:8, 9 He gives us His example of staying married when His wife Judah was unfaithful to Him (as 1 Cor 7:11b), and only divorcing Israel when she would not return to Him (as 1 Cor 7:15). We are not to follow the Law of Moses, which gives us “permission” to put away our wives, but Christ alone. “Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law, to do them” Gal 3:10.
Law Though we “were made dead to the law (Law of Moses)” and are “not under law” any longer; we are “not without law to God” but “in-the-law of Christ”. That is the “law of liberty”. For living in the Spirit we fulfill the “righteousness of the law” that is the “law of God”. We do not destroy the law through our “faith”, but rather “we establish the Law”.
Remarriage of the man “Loosed” Paul acknowledges to be “loosed” as Deut 24:1-4 by saying if a man “has been bound to a wife seek not to be loosed/released” in 1 Cor 7:27. Stating a man can divorce his wife for the case of sexual immorality, but that a Christian man should not take advantage of this “permission” (though it would not be sexually immoral for him to do so). But if the man found himself divorced from his wife and “loosed or released” from her, according to scripture, then he may marry another while his wife was still living, and this would not be considered “sin” 1 Cor 7:28.
If the unbeliever wishes to “separate” (1 Cor 7:15 as Israel in Jer 3:8) he/she may “let be separated” from the marriage (grant the divorce). But they are not to put away a spouse who is willing to remain in the marriage 1 Cor 7:12-13, even if it is only in pretence (Jer 3:9 “Judah”). The man may seek another when “loosened” according to the Law of Moses (1 Cor 7:27-28). But a woman is to “remain unmarried” if she is unable to “reconcile” with her husband 1 Cor 7:11.
It is interesting to note Solomon was born by King David with the wife of “Uriah”, and Herodias was “the wife of Philip”. In the improper taking of a wife from another the bible still spoke of the first spouse as the husband or wife of.
If the woman were released from the ‘law’ of her husband when divorced, then the lack of commentary of this by Scripture would seem not to make sense.
Footnote (1) (This page uses content from the English-language version of Wikipedia. The original article was at Divorce. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with Psychology Wiki, the text of Wikipedia is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.)
Footnote (2) Bercot, David. Encyclopedia of Early Church Fathers: from the website “Why I will not remarry SO LONG AS WE BOTH SHALL LIVE” as compiled by a Christian divorcee biyn.org. I believe referenced from the book “A Dictionary of Early Christian Beliefs” Edited By: David Bercot By: David W. Bercot, ed. Hendrickson Publishers 1998
(The Cure 4 Divorce - title by Stratton Wells) And help from a word by a friend, Adam (knowingly or unknowingly, I am not sure). And thanks Jenn for the help with the help and ideas in editing.
Love you all brothers and sisters, Michael.
Covenants From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia; This article is about covenants in general. For more specific uses, see Covenant (disambiguation). A covenant, in its most general sense, is a solemn promise to engage in or refrain from a specified action. More specifically, a covenant, in contrast to a contract, is a one-way agreement whereby the covenanter is the only party bound by the promise. A covenant may have conditions and prerequisites that qualify the undertaking, including the acations of second or third parties, but there is no inherent agreement by such other parties to fulfill those requirements. Consequentially, the only party that can break a covenant is the covenanter. The bible speaks about Covenants: Gal 3:15 it says, “Brethren, I speak in the manner of men: Thought it is only a man’s covenant, yet if it is confirmed, no one annuls or adds to it” as to say, “and this I say, that the law, which was four hundred and thirty years later, cannot annul the covenant that was confirmed before by God, in Christ, that it should make the promise of no effect.”
For the woman who… “Forsakes the companion of her youth; and forgets the covenant of her God” Proverbs 2:17, God no longer looks at them as two but one, “yet she is your companion and your wife by covenant” Malachi 2:14 and 15.
God to fulfill his promise, “thus I establish My covenant with you: Never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood; never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth. And God said: This is the sign of the covenant which I make between Me and you, and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations: I will set My rainbow in the cloud…”
So when Israel was not faithful to their covenant oaths they were guilty of breaking the covenant to their God and when Israel did not return God gave her a certificate of Divorce but when Judah returned God remained faithful to her Jer 3:10.
God made a covenant with David and will remain faithful to his Covenant with David Ps 89:30-37 and will bring Israel back and marry her again and make a “new Covenant” with her Hosea 2:13-23 and Jer 31:31-33 an everlasting Covenant.
God says for his covenant with David, though man is faithless God is faithful for he cannot deny Himself. Though man broke their covenant with God in at Mt. Heron in giving of the 10 commandments, God remind faithful to His promises with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and will restore Israel and David will have a King on the thrown forever.
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